The painter of Altamira

Thepainter of Altamira (in the darkness of the cave) knowsthe shadows he sees on the wallare real. For him the real and apparentare indistinctfor he knows the shadows undulating on the wall are (in fact) bisonpassing in front of the cave. Ten thousand yearswill have to pass twicebefore another bearded man can affirmsomething different and in another cave(by the light of another light) rethinkeverythingfrom the start. But for now they are shadows(with the profiles of bison) thatthe painter of Altamira copies all over the cave –asking the stone gods that theymay reproduceso there’s never a shortage of shadows (andfor that matter bison) to huntand eat.

The motion of the world

Through the church door I’d hear people’s prayers recited like someone’s times tables. I wandered the world and(listen:it was funny) the more I wandered the moreI had it right (lifeitself seemed like it wanted to holdonto me). In a world gone belly upbats are the wise ones –I came back from the world and never admiredthe return (the color of the sea was the samethe light in the sky was the sameenvy was exactly the same). Seen top to bottomeach illusion is small –through the school window I’d hear times tables recitedlike someone’s prayers.

Wild apples

More than the first verse I am unsettledby this: who providesthe second one? I scan the world with my eyelids(opening and closing my eyes)to select is to excludeto exclude is to understandto understand is to preserve. Each poem written isan opportunitylike touching someone who without warning shocks you (a fish bone in your throat) nailsscratching on a black board. Creating poems is likestealingwild apples(you’re expecting sweetness but what you taste isacidity). Inside the poem:sounds(around them: white space)silence put to work.

Translators’ note:

Professionally, João is a doctor of plastic and reconstructive surgery, and he’s a perfect addition to the long line of physician-poets. His poetry has been published in anthologies and literary magazines in Portugal, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Macedonia, Mexico, Montenegro, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States (and probably a few more I’m not remembering). He and I were introduced by my mentor, Robert Pinsky, who knew of my ongoing work translating the collected works of the late Alberto de Lacerda. I immediately loved João’s voice: it is inclusive without being pedestrian, and his often-tongue-in-cheek tone is very engaging. He’s also incredibly adept at packing ideas and emotion into a concise poem (almost nothing he writes goes beyond a single page), and the first-person narration puts the reader right in the middle of the action.

These three poems come from Nomad, João’s tenth book, which attests to his popularity
and success in his home country of Portugal and abroad. He gave me the
opportunity to work alongside Antonio Ladeira to translate the collection,
which is an honor in and of itself. We are thrilled for Anomaly to be
the first journal to publish part of our work—there is plenty more where this
came from.

– Calvin Olsen

Antonio Ladeira was born in Portugal in 1969. He currently lives in Lubbock, Texas, where he is an Associate Professor of Portuguese and Spanish at Texas Tech University. He holds a Licenciatura degree in Portuguese Studies from Nova University in Lisbon, and a PhD in Hispanic Languages and Literatures from the University of California in Santa Barbara. He has published five volumes of his own poetry in Portugal and two books of short stories in Portugal, Brazil and Colombia. He is also a lyricist for Jazz singer Stacey Kent.

Calvin Olsen’s poetry and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in AGNI, Asymptote, The Comstock Review, Ezra Translation, The London Magazine, and The National Poetry Review, among others. A former Robert Pinsky Global Fellow and recent Pushcart Prize nominee, Calvin now lives in North Carolina, where he is a doctoral student in Communication, Rhetoric, & Digital Media and the poetry editor at The Carolina Quarterly. More of his work can be found at his website (www.calvin-olsen.com).

João Luís Barreto Guimarães was born in Porto, Portugal, where he graduated in medicine. He is a breast reconstructive plastic surgeon and author of ten poetry books, the most recent of which are Mediterrâneo (Mediterranean, 2016), winner of Portugal’s António Ramos Rosa Award for Poetry; Nómada (Nomad, 2018), which was voted a Book of the Year by Livraria Bertrand (the oldest bookstore in the world); and O Tempo Avança por Sílabas (Time Advances by Syllables, 2019). He is also a chronicler and a translator, mainly for his blog Poesia & Lda.